Blog & News

Happy Thanksgiving

We are delighted to annouce Dorothy Kerper Monnelly’s third book waterforms (Kettler Verlag, 2016), presenting a stunning collection of 70 black and white photographic abstractions, capturing the effects of water on the shoreline environment and natural surfaces.

Kerper Monnelly’s large format black and white abstractions provide a departure from reality, sometimes slight, sometimes partial, and in the case of her Ice Patterns the move to abstraction is complete. However, the origin is always nature, unmanipulated, and unstaged.

“There is a “calligraphy” of ice and snow, water and stone. Each has a root language, spoken in different accents, as the water stills to ice, or falls as snow, or freezes into crevices, expanding, splitting stone. It is not easily deciphered. Kerper Monnelly has a clear sense of the grammar of her images. She has created a lexicon, beyond her subject matter.”
—Arthur Ollman, founding Director of MOPA, San Diego

Congratulations to photokunst photographer Jamey Stillings and his monograph The Evolution of Ivanpah Solar (Steidl, 2015) on winning IPA’s 2016 “Book Photographer of the Year” and becoming a Finalist for Lucie’s Grandprize “Photographer of the Year” Award (winner to be announced in NYC October 23).

Stillings study of the Ivanpah Solar installation synthesizes his environmental interests with a long-held fascination for the intersections of nature and human activity. The book reproduces 60 compelling black-and-white images, along with contributions from Bruce Barcott, Robert Redford and Anne Wilkes Tucker. The timeliness of this project is reinforced by the current worldwide focus on climate and alternative energy.

Kudos to photokunst photographer Dorothy Kerper Monnelly on the release of her latest book waterforms (Kettler Verlag, 2016), presenting a stunning collection of 70 black and white photographic abstractions, capturing the effects of water on the shoreline environment and natural surfaces. This body of work has been developed over a thirty-five year span. Introduction by Arthur Ollman, founding Director of MOPA, San Diego, CA.

Kerper Monnelly’s large format black and white abstractions provide a departure from reality, sometimes slight, sometimes partial, and in the case of her Ice Patterns the move to abstraction is complete. However, the origin is always nature; unmanipulated, and unstaged. Through her observations Kerper Monnelly refined her own visual language, a lyrical abstraction, encompassing fundamental changes taking place by photographing with a unique point of view. Kerper Monnelly feels strongly that waterforms represents her deepest and most significant work, exploring alternatives within her visual experience.

Order Book: GermanyFrance USA- pending on Amazon
US Distribution: ACCdistribution.com/us

The Compassionate Eye: Women Behind the Lens

11/28/2015 – 12/9/2015

Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher are included in a group exhibition at Holden Luntz Gallery in Palm Beach, FL, along with nine other female photographer luminaries, including Margaret Bourke-White, Ruth Bernhard and Imogen Cunningham. Providing an overview of the critical contributions that women have made to medium of photography, “The Compassionate Eye: Women Behind the Lens” celebrates the unique ways women have utilized the camera from the early twentieth century and beyond.

The six included photographs by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher, are the result of a long, enduring and deeply respectful relationship with African tribal peoples. Their work preserves and presents the power, complexity and celebration found in African tribal life.

Jamey Stillings: “The Evolution of Ivanpah Solar”

Congratulations to photographer Jamey Stillings on his newly released monograph, The Evolution of Ivanpah Solar, published by Steidl. The book reproduces 60 of Stillings’ black-and-white images, along with contributions from Bruce Barcott, Robert Redford and Anne Wilkes Tucker.

The timeliness of this project is reinforced with the current worldwide focus on climate and alternative energy. At the COP21 Paris Summit this week, 196 countries will meet to sign a new climate change agreement. Stillings’ bookcover photograph, #9499, 21 March 2013, is included in the official UN Climate Change Legacy Exhibition.

The decisive role of renewable energy in achieving global climate goals is undisputed. But what does renewable energy look like? Jamey Stillings took photographs of the world’s largest concentrated solar power plant, Ivanpah Solar, in the Mojave Desert, California. Here 300,000 mirrors (each the size of a garage door) focus the sun’s rays onto solar towers across 14 square kilometers of public land. Stilling’s aerial photographs record the transformation of nature into precise geometric forms. These are unsettlingly beautiful images of human activity in an unforgiving landscape.

Selected as a TIME Best Photobook of 2015:
by TIME Senior Photo Editor Myles Little:

“I loved the print quality of The Evolution of Ivanpah Solar, the metallic end papers printed with scenes from the book, and the beautiful proportion of the image size to the page size. The subject matter is magnificent and the patterns within the images themselves are just hypnotic.”

In Honor of the upcoming

80th Birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, 7/6/2015 Special Offerings from the photokunst collection

We are honored to present special offers on compelling work by three renowned photographers who each have a profound connection to Tibet, collectively spanning seven decades. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has recognized the importance of the work of all three, in support of Tibetan culture, people and his occupied homeland.

HEINRICH HARRER: Limited Edition Portfolio

The only limited-edition portfolio ever produced from noted explorer Heinrich Harrer‘s archive of images of traditional Tibet shot between 1948 and 1951. As confidant and informal tutor to the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Harrer was afforded access to ceremonies and customs that had been rarely witnessed by Westerners. The ten included images represent a poignant visual essay of traditional Tibet that resonate with the historical significance of the twilight years of Tibetan freedom.

Phil Borges: Special “Tibetan Portrait” Collection

Beginning in 1994 Phil Borges traveled to Tibet as well as northern India and Nepal to interview and photograph Tibetans and Tibetan refugees in an effort to understand what had happened to them, to their country and their culture. These are some of the people he met from this deeply spiritual culture—everyone from the nomads of the remote Himalayas to the Dalai Lama himself—each committed to their unique Tibetan culture and to the practice of compassion in the face of ongoing challenges in their lives and occupied homeland. This special collection of hand-signed hand-printed black & white silver gelatin photographs is drawn from his book Tibetan Portrait: The Power of Compassion.

Marissa Roth:INFINITE LIGHT: A photographic Meditation on Tibet

Infinite Light: A Photographic Meditation on Tibet is a visual poem of seventy-two color photographs of Marissa Roth’s impressions of Tibet, shot with some of the last available Kodachrome film, producing deep saturated color. Arranged in a continuous sequence, reflecting the colors of Tibetan prayer flags, the collection is akin to a walking meditation. Taken over the course of two separate trips, this project was the product of an abiding interest in Tibet and profound sense of spiritual connection to the people and the culture.

De Las Sombras / Out of the Shadows provides a probing portrait from within the world of undocumented immigrants, a bilingual exhibition of photography and commentary that tells one family’s story in their own words and puts a compelling face on the struggle of millions.

Award winning artists T.J Dixon & James Nelson spent four years documenting the story of one Southern California immigrant family. The result is an insightful photographic essay with 47 framed photographs accompanied by captivating quotes (in English and Spanish), and video components adding insight and dimension into the project.

A majority of Americans support a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, but the collective will for successful congressional action/resolution and long-awaited new legal recourse, remains frustratingly remote. De Las Sombras: Out of the Shadows provides a moving focal point for consideration and conversation about the real human costs, and impacts of this stalemate, as played out in the lives of one family, their struggles echo the lives of countless others, still fearful and avoiding the limelight.

T.J. Dixon writes: “We can never look away again. I often think: what if we lived in a tin hut that flooded with every rain? What if a full belly was something we could only dream of? What if we knew we were good, hardworking, responsible people, with the desperate desire for a better life and we knew we could break out of this cycle of generational poverty simply by leaving home and going north? What if we could guarantee that our children could reach beyond this despair and disillusion?

But what if leaving meant we went alone as a child to a strange, unwelcoming country without family, money, or civil rights? . . . would we make the same choices?”

photokunst is proud to present Invisible Eve: Crime & Wisdom, a pioneering traveling exhibition, with a book by the same name (Rizzoli 2013), which touches on prescient social issues, exploring the stark reality of female prisoners in the US today. The exhibition of thirty-five compelling black-and-white silver gelatin portraits, with accompanying statements by the women inmates and supportive panels, is available to travel through 2020.

Award winning photographer Yousef Khanfar, was granted rare access to his subjects, and sought to humanize these women. Visiting the harsh inner prison world, Khanfer came to the understanding that he might not be able to help the women inside prison, but their voices might be able to reach beyond the bars. Each woman shared words of wisdom, feeling that it was a chance to become part of the solution, instead of the problem.

“All the women I photographed in this project were united by misfortune of circumstances and non-violent crimes. It was not inmates I saw through my lens, but human beings; deserving of a voice and opportunity for a fresh chance at life.”

Invisible Eve is a message of hope and a call for action, It is not political, nor does it seek blame. It invites open and honest consideration and discourse. The exhibition, with its compelling content, presents a rare educational opportunity to experience an otherwise exclusive world and engage the community on a timely issue. Khanfar shared moving remarks about the need for action at the Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum exhibition opening, June 2013, enjoy the video below:

Happy 80th birthday to intrepid diver, renowned underwater photographer, and marine conservation advocate Ernest “Ernie” H. Brooks II. Brooks has been widely honored for his photography, his contributions to photographic technology, for shepherding a new generation of underwater photographers, and as a respected ambassador for the marine environment.

“The homage to Ansel Adams is almost too predictable when describing the photography of Ernest H. Brooks II. That they are both masters of the art and science of black-and-white photography is obvious when reviewing their body of work…” ~Stephen Frink, Alert Diver

Ernest H. Brooks II was born to be a photographer. Ernie followed his father, who was the founder of the internationally renowned Brooks Institute of Photography, before forging his own photographic path. Brooks was a trailblazer in developing underwater photographic equipment and techniques. His book “Silver Seas” featured stunning underwater black-and-white photography captured with a Hasselblad and film, and now his work is digital and infrared.

“Over the years, I have witnessed tremendous change in the field of photography. From the days of the black and white darkroom, where images developed in chemicals to finally appear into a timeless statement, to current day where technological advances have provided tools that take the eye beyond the darkroom and into a greater realm of pure photographic intention and expression. I have grown to love the craft, its art, and the very private and personal time that it takes to pursue perfection.“ ~Ernest H. Brooks II

Over his long and distinguished career, Brooks has accumulated a mantel-full of prestigious national and international awards for his underwater photography and devotion to the seas. In 2013 he was designated one of ten “Legends of the Sea”, joining Jacques Cousteau, Lloyd Bridges, Hans Haas, and David Cameron. His work was recently featured at The International Climate Change Summit in Lima, Peru. He has contributed to numerous organizations and magazines, including the Cousteau Society, Monterey Bay Aquarium, The Nature Conservancy, Ocean Realm, California Highways and National Wildlife. His work has been exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Monterey Bay Aquarium Shark Exhibit, Yugoslavia ‘Man in the Sea,’ Our World Underwater, Smithsonian ‘Planet Earth’ and in the current traveling exhibition “Fragile Waters”(along with Ansel Adams and Dorothy Kerper Monnelly) visiting five U.S. museums, opening at San Diego Maritime Museum on March 1, 2016.

His photographic legacy has illustrated dramatic changes in our oceans, and he himself remains a tremendous voice for oceanic exploration, and through that, the preservation of our marine environments.

“Photography is many things to many people, and for me it has been a vehicle to new lands, a medium for self-expression and a gateway to adventure. It has always been in my life. The ocean and underwater photography are among my main interests and, in the pursuit of dramatic marine images, I have dived beneath the polar icecaps and in almost every ocean on Earth.“ ~Ernest H. Brooks II

Brooks is currently on an expedition to Indonesia photographing black/white infrared images, in order to call attention to deforestation of a small island off North Sulawesi. This summer Brooks will have a belated celebration, joined by many of his former students on board The Nautilus Explorer, outfitted with Brooks’ photographs,, cruising to the Socorro Islands off the coast of Mexico.

“Photography affords us the tools to sculpt with light, to paint with textures and shapes and to write volumes into a single image—creating indelible, lasting impressions of where we have been, who we really are and where our future may take us.” ~Ernest H. Brooks II

“You must illustrate the beauty of light and the presence of design, the form the viewer realizes is a quality joined together to begin a ‘Statement’. These visuals ‘words’ are the language of all the people on our planet, and a language that all photographers need to learn as their careers take form. “ ~Ernest H. Brooks II

Continuing their lifework of documenting traditional African culture, Carol and Angela traveled to Cuba in 2014 for a fieldwork study of modern Voodoo, a diaspora of a Yoruban religion originally brought from West Africa during the slave trade.

“We went to Cuba to explore the Yoruba religion of Voodoo which was carried to Cuba by the trans-Atlantic slave trade from Benin and Nigeria, starting in the 16th century. In Cuba today, we find these ancient Yoruba beliefs and rituals practiced in a religion known as Santeria. Having studied Voodoo in West Africa for over two decades, we were fascinated by the diaspora of an African religion which protected itself by appearing to merge with Christianity, but in actuality practiced its secret rituals in privacy. It is believed that 60 percent of the Cuban population have their roots in Africa. We were moved to realize that this vital religion which traveled across the Atlantic many generations ago has found a protected home so far from its origins.” Carol Beckwith & Angela Fisher